IRVINE, Calif. – Oct. 26, 2007 – Michigan reported 14,242 foreclosure filings in September, a 9 percent decrease from the previous month, but still an 82 percent increase from September 2006, according to the latest RealtyTrac® U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over 1 million properties from nearly 2,500 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.

“Foreclosure activity in Michigan for September was down slightly from the previous month when it hit its highest point for the year so far,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Still, one month does not make a trend. Home sales and prices are down substantially and unemployment is way above the national average. These factors are definitely contributing to the higher levels of foreclosure activity we have been reporting.”

Michigan ranked it 5th in the country in foreclosure total reported in September. Michigan’s foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 314 households ranked it 4th highest among the 50 states.

Even though this was the second highest monthly total for the Great Lakes state so far in 2007, it is still far below national leader California, which reported 51,259 foreclosure filings for September. Second place Florida reported 18,000 more filings than Michigan and Ohio with the nation’s third highest total had almost 1,500 more foreclosure filings. In fourth place Texas reported only 400 more foreclosure filings than Michigan. The remaining states in the nation’s top 10 for total foreclosure filings in September were Georgia, Illinois, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.

WayneCounty reports biggest foreclosure total

WayneCounty accounted for 52 percent of all foreclosure filings in Michigan for September, reporting 7,410 foreclosure filings for the month. OaklandCounty documented the second highest foreclosure total, with 2,183 foreclosure filings. MaCombCounty had the state’s third highest foreclosure total, with 1,253 foreclosure filings in September. Kent County posted the fourth highest foreclosure total, with 558 foreclosure filings, followed by Ingham County in fifth place with 440 filings entering some stage of the foreclosure pipeline.

WayneCounty leads state in foreclosure rate

WayneCounty posted the highest foreclosure rate in the state, one foreclosure filing for every 113 households — 2.8 times the state average and 4.9 times the national average. CalhounCounty posted the second highest foreclosure rate, one foreclosure filing for every 187 households — 1.7 times the state average and three times the national average. InghamCounty posted the fourth highest foreclosure rate, one foreclosure filing for every 273 households. MaCombCounty rounded out the state’s top five rates for the month, posting a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 277 households.

State a major contributor to nation’s monthly total

Total foreclosure filings in Michigan accounted for 6 percent of the 223,538 foreclosure filings reported nationwide in September. The national total represents an 8 percent decrease from the previous month, but is still 99 percent above the total reported for September 2006. The nation’s foreclosure rate decreased to one foreclosure filing for every 557 U.S. households for the month.

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides the total number of foreclosure filings — both nationwide and by state — over the preceding month. RealtyTrac’s report includes properties in all three phases of foreclosure: Defaults — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auctions — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank).

For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, check out our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

Ranked as the third largest real estate site by MediaMetrix, and No. 53 on Inc. magazine’s 2006 Inc. 500 list of the nation’s fastest growing private companies, RealtyTrac Inc. (www.realtytrac.com), is the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value.

Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, For Sale By Owner, resale and new homes, with more than 1.3 million properties across the country, property reports, productivity tools and extensive professional resources. RealtyTrac hosts nearly 3 million unique visitors monthly and has been chosen to supply foreclosure data to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and the Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal. For more information, visit (www.realtytrac.com).

About RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac® is the leading provider of comprehensive housing data and analytics for the real estate and financial services industries, Federal, state and local governments, academic institutions, and the media. Data is aggregated from parcel-level records of more than 125 million U.S. residential and commercial properties and delivered through customizable products including bulk file licensing, APIs and custom reports.